ISLAMABAD: Casualties continued to rise in the twin cities as 12 more people lost their lives to Covid-19 and 489 more tested positive on Saturday.With the latest count, the number of active cases in Islamabad has reached 5,874 — the second highest in the country after Karachi.

On the other hand, a number of officials in the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) two key wings were found having the virus. Member Finance Rana Shakeel, Member Administration Amir Abbas, Director General Human Resource Management (HRM) Rizwan Haider, Director Abdul Razzaq and Deputy Director Asif Ali Khan have contracted coronavirus. Besides, an assistant in the Human Resource Management succumbed to the virus.

Following the detection, block-5 of the CDA head office has been sealed and around 250 officials of the HRM department and many more in the finance wing have been asked to work from home.

The sealed offices have been fumigated, but employees of other departments, including those in block-4, fear that they might get infected.

Islamabad has second highest number of active cases after Karachi

“CDA should also implement the government policy of 50pc attendance on rotation basis,” an official said, adding the civic body should reduce its pubic dealing by shifting towards online services.

The capital reported six deaths and 353 positive cases on Saturday.

Officials in the Ministry of National Health Services told I that the capital had second highest number of active cases among 15 most affected cities of the country.

Karachi has the highest number of active cases — 18,110 — followed by Islamabad 5,874, Hyderabad 1740, Peshawar 1088, Lahore 637, Abbotabad 436, Muzaffarabad 418, Quetta 355, Mirpur 340, Rawalpindi 206, Multan 200, Gujranwala 159 and Swat 70.

The utilisation of beds in the capital is highest among all the four provinces, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. The capital has 49.2pc utilisation followed by 26.3pc in KP, 12.9pc in Punjab, 8.8pc in AJK, 7.3pc in Sindh and 0.9pc in Balochistan.

Besides, the utilisation of beds with oxygen is also highest in the capital which is 61pc, followed by 47pc in Peshawar, 46pc in Multan, 39pc in Rawalpindi, 34pc in Abbottabad, 24pc in Lahore, 15pc in Gilgit, 14pc in Mirpur, 10pc in Muzaffarabad, nine per cent in Faisalabad and one per cent in Quetta.

The details about utilisation of beds with oxygen in Karachi and Hyderabad on Saturday were not available.

Likewise, utilisation of ventilators in Multan was 67pc followed by 52pc in Islamabad, 37pc in Peshawar, 35pc in Lahore, 24pc in Rawalpindi, 18pc in Karachi and six per cent in Faisalabad.

There was no patient on ventilator in Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Quetta, Gilgit, Abbottabad and Hyderabad.

Three of the six patients who died in the capital were admitted to Pims and one each to separate private hospitals.

Three of the deceased were in the age group of 60-69, two in 80-89 and one in 40-49. Five of the deceased were women.

During the last 24 hours, 6,696 tests were conducted and the positivity rate remained 5.2 per cent.Of the new cases, 39 were reported from Loi Bher, 22 from G-6, 20 each from I-8, G-10, 19 from G-11, 17 from G-8, 15 from Tarlai, 14 from Sohan, 12 from Bhara Kahu, 11 each from G-9, F-6, 10 each from G-13, I-10, nine each from F-11, I-9, G-5, eight each from F-10, Alipur, Chak Shahzad, seven from Rawat, six each from E-11, G-14, B-17, five from G-15, four each from F-8, Koral, H-13, Kirpa, three each from G-7, F-17, two each from Khanna, F-7, Kurri, Rawal Town, D-12, I-14, H-8, G-12, Pind Begwal and one each from Model Town Humak, Tarnol, E-7, Phulgran, H-9, Saidpur, Tramri and Gokina. The addresses of four patients were not known.

Rawalpindi

Six patients died on Saturday and 136 contracted the deadly virus in different areas of Rawalpindi.

Tahir Kareem, 55, a resident of new Katarian, was brought to Holy Family Hospital (HFH) on Dec 4 but died late Friday night. Naheed Zaheer, 45, from Dhoke Chaudhrian was also shifted to HFH on Dec 4 but breathed her last on Saturday.

Tariq Aziz, 50, a resident of Satellite Town, was admitted to Rawalpindi Institute of Urology on Dec 4 but lost her life on Saturday. Ghulam Fiza, 71, from Bagra Syedan, was taken to Quaid-i-Azam International Hospital on Dec 4 with the virus symptoms but died on Saturday.

Mukhida Bibi, 61, from Kahuta was brought to Fauji Foundation Hospital on Dec 4 and died on Saturday.

A total of 1,350 confirmed patients are under treatment in the district with 258 admitted in Rawalpindi city hospitals. As many as 25 are in Holy Family Hospital, three at Hearts International, seven in Red Crescent Hospital, 30 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and 19 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

According to the health department, 1,092 have been home isolated in the district.

Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn that 12,933 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since March - 10,941 in Rawalpindi, 832 in Attock, 760 in Jhelum and 400 in Chakwal. He said so far 523 people have succumbed to the virus in Rawalpindi Division.

Attock

One more patient died of Covid-19 as 14 more tested positive in the district, taking the toll to 842.

According to a report issued by the local health department, 80-year-old Mohammad Ayub succumbed to the virus on Saturday and was buried as per standing operating procedures (SOPs).

Giving details about the newly-detected patients, five each belong to Attock city and Hazro, three are from Fatehjang and one from Jand.

Sources said the number of active patients in the district had risen to 114 out of which 108 were home isolated while six were hospitalised. They said the number of suspected cases were 19,501 while screening of 22,952 people had also been carried out so far.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2020